First Nation chiefs to stage Site C showdown

Peter O'Neil, Vancouver Sun09.18.2014

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, right, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, and B.C. Premier Christy Clark in a meeting with cabinet ministers and First Nations leaders in Vancouver last week.DARRYL DYCK
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

B.C. Indian Chiefs leader Stewart Phillip will attend a meeting next week to urge the Harper government to reject BC Hydro’s proposed Site C project.Arlen Redekop
/ PNG

Roland Willson, chief of the West Moberly First Nation, standing across from Dreams Rock, a spiritual site on the Peace River. His people are opposed to BC Hydro’s proposed Site C dam.
/ Vancouver Sun

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OTTAWA — A delegation of B.C. First Nation chiefs will be here next week to urge the Harper government to reject BC Hydro’s $8-billion Site C hydroelectric megaproject.

The group will include Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs leader Stewart Phillip, who last week at a First Nations leaders’ summit with Premier Christy Clark declared: “B.C. is Indian land.”

One of the chiefs said Thursday that the pending federal government decision is expected to come down in opposition to the megaproject.

West Moberly First Nation Chief Roland Willson said if Ottawa approves the project, local Aboriginal groups will immediately challenge that decision in the Federal Court of Canada.

“Our lawyers are telling us this should be a slam dunk case,” Willson, whose nation is a member of the Treaty 8 Tribal Association, said in an interview.

That confidence is based on a joint federal-provincial review panel report made public May 8 and submitted to the B.C. and federal governments, both of which set Oct. 22 as the date to announce their determination on the proposal. At this time, the ministers may issue an environmental certificate for the project, refuse to issue a certificate or order that further assessment be carried out.

BC Hydro wants to construct and operate a dam and 1,100-megawatt hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River in northeastern British Columbia.

The dam would flood 83 kilometres of the Peace River Valley from near Fort St. John to Hudson’s Hope, destroying farmland and wildlife habitat.

Victoria has argued that the region’s growing population, as well as the area’s oil and gas and mining industries, need the relatively clean hydroelectric.

And the utility downplayed the impact on First Nations.

But the panel, chaired by the former deputy Indian affairs minister Harry Swain, was clear about how BC Hydro’s proposal would affect First Nations.

“The Panel disagrees with BC Hydro and concludes that the project is likely to cause a significant adverse effect on fishing opportunities and practices for the First Nations represented by Treaty 8 Tribal Association, Saulteau First Nations, and Blueberry River First Nations, and that these effects cannot be mitigated.”

The report also questioned the provincial utility’s justification for the project.

“B.C. will need new energy and new capacity at some point,” the panel found, but “the proponent has not fully demonstrated the need for the project on the timetable set forth.”

Those two conclusions, according to Willson and fellow delegation member Liz Logan of the Fort Nelson First Nation, show Site C has failed to meet the test set out by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Canada’s highest court, in a landmark June decision involving B.C.’s Tsilhqot’in First Nation, said the Crown can only justify infringing on Aboriginal title lands by “demonstrating both a compelling and substantial governmental objective,” and that the broader benefits “must not be outweighed by adverse effects on the Aboriginal interest.”

Both chiefs said their communities are interested in supporting smaller projects in areas such as wind, solar and geothermal power. But they say the valley flooding would impair their rights to fish, hunt and use the area for ceremonial purposes.

While Phillip, Willson and Logan originally hoped to meet with cabinet ministers and even Prime Minister Stephen Harper, so far the delegation has only scored a meeting with two B.C. Conservatives: low-profile Prince George-Peace River MP Bob Zimmer and Yonah Martin, deputy government leader in the Senate.

On the opposition side they have scored meetings with New Democratic Party leader Tom Mulcair, Green leader Elizabeth May, B.C. Liberal MP Joyce Murray and several senators.

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First Nation chiefs to stage Site C showdown

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